The Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline: Bad for Virginia

The U.S. Senate may vote Tuesday on whether to green-light the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline even before a safe route has been determined. Why is that a terrible idea?

• TransCanada wants to build this pipeline so it can stop dumping tar sands oil at a discount in the Midwest. TransCanada's own analysis shows it would raise Midwest gas prices by 15 cents a gallon. 
• How does that impact states outside the Midwest like Virginia? American consumers could pay an extra $500 million for goods from the Midwest thanks to those higher gas prices.
• A Cornell University study found those higher gas prices are one reason Keystone would kill more jobs than it creates - again, especially in a state like Virginia that would see few (if any) jobs directly created by the distant pipeline.
• The pipeline would do nothing to lower U.S. gas prices because the oil will be sold on the international market. Think about it - if you wanted to sell the oil in America, why would you build a pipeline literally all the way down through America to the Gulf Coast?
• The pipeline would benefit from billions in taxpayer subsidies.
• TransCanada predicted its Keystone I pipeline would spill once a year. It's spilled once a month.
• Tar sands oil emits far more carbon pollution over its life cycle than regular oil, fueling the global warming that's threatening Virginia.

Please take a moment to call Sen. Mark Warner at 202-224-2023 and Sen. Jim Webb at 202-224-4024 and ask them to say no to Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. If you can't call (or if you don't live in Virginia), email your members of Congress.

As an added bonus, doing the right thing by killing Keystone XL is also a political winner. Isn't it nice when good policy and good politics come together?

Learn more from Robert Redford:

UPDATE 7:33pm: Over 500,000 people have signed a petition asking the Senate to leave Keystone dead in just 7 hours

1,252 Arrested at White House Protesting Tar Sands: Is President Obama Listening?

More than 200 people were arrested Saturday in the final day of the civil disobedience urging President Obama to reject a proposed tar sands pipeline. More from TarSandsAction.org:

The proposed Keystone XL pipeline has become the most important environmental decision facing President Obama before the 2012 election and sparked nationwide opposition, from Nebraska ranchers to former Obama campaigners. A petition with 617,428 names opposing the pipeline will be delivered to the White House today.

Over the course of the two-week sit-in 1,252 people were arrested, including top climate scientists, landowners from Texas and Nebraska, former Obama for America staffers, First Nations leaders from Canada, and notable individuals including Bill McKibben, former White House official Gus Speth, NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen, actor Daryl Hannah, filmmaker Josh Fox, and author Naomi Klein.

“Back home we are fighting to protect our land and water. This week, we decided to bring that fight to the President’s doorstep,” said Jane Kleeb, Director of BOLD Nebraska, who led a delegation of Nebraskans who were arrested this morning. “We are acting on our values and expect our President to act as well.”

Despite the 1,252 arrests and about a thousand more people rallying in Lafayette Park, the White House is continuing its code of silence: "We heard not one word from them," McKibben told the New York Times.

For more details, photos and a video from Saturday's protest, check out my full post over at Blue Virginia.

More Pollution, Higher Gas Prices: Tell Obama to Say No to Tar Sands

From activist Bill McKibben to actress Daryl Hannah, about 600 people have been arrested so far this week at the White House. They're protesting a planned tar sands pipeline cutting from the Canadian border all the way down to Texas.

Al Gore explains why a bipartisan coalition has come together to ask President Obama to take a stand against the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline:

The leaders of the top environmental groups in the country, the Republican Governor of Nebraska, and millions of people around the country—including hundreds of people who have bravely participated in civil disobedience at the White House—all agree on one thing: President Obama should block a planned pipeline from the tar sands of Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico.

The tar sands are the dirtiest source of fuel on the planet. As I wrote in Our Choice two years ago, gasoline made from the tar sands gives a Toyota Prius the same impact on climate as a Hummer using gasoline made from oil. This pipeline would be an enormous mistake. The answer to our climate, energy and economic challenges does not lie in burning more dirty fossil fuels — instead, we must continue to press for much more rapid development of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies and cuts in the pollution that causes global warming.

Here's what's most ridiculous: The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline wouldn't cut gas prices. The company that wants to build the pipeline admits it would actually raise gas prices 15 cents a gallon in the Midwest, where it's currently forced to dump tar sands oil at a discount. Why would President Obama even consider a pipeline that would put communities, water supplies and wildlife at risk, would lock in our oil dependence, and would raise gas prices?

But with Energy Secretary Steven Chu making approving statements about the pipeline and the White House press secretary refusing to even tell President Obama about the protests, it's fair to wonder if the fix is in for dirty tar sands.

Learn more at TarSandsAction.org, then tell President Obama to say no to dirty tar sands.

What Energy Sources Do Your Tax Dollars Subsidize?

Via Good.is (click to enlarge):



Republicans squawk about incentives for renewable energy because those are new & need approval, while dirty energy sources locked in their subsidies long ago - like, say, the tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks Virginia gives to dirty coal companies every year.

Why not eliminate all subsidies & put a simple price on carbon pollution? That's what truly terrifies dirty energy companies (and the politicians they fund).

America's Daily Oil Disaster

Captured perfectly by The Onion.